Evergreen volunteers are stepping up to help shelter their fellow citizens — not by writing checks but by actually building them houses.

And in the 17 years since Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity was organized in 1991, said Pandora Reagan, development director for the agency, those volunteers have built 21 houses under the aegis of the local affiliate of the international organization, which was begun in 1976 in Georgia.

Editor’s note: Scout around Google Earth these days, and you might be astonished by what you find — such as the report by a man who claimed he spotted bigfoot between Kittredge and Indian Hills in 1974. He was a boy at the time, hiking with his brothers and the family dog. The incident scared him so badly he nearly choked the dog to death with its leash while climbing a tree.

An Evergreen couple pleaded guilty June 16 to setting a house on fire and stealing the owners' car and jewelry.

Gregory Allen Leon, 24, and his girlfriend, Summer Lynn Baker, 24, will be sentenced Aug. 21. Leon faces between four and 48 years in prison, and Baker faces two to six years in prison. Leon is not eligible for probation.

This Saturday, folks who like their local history served al fresco with something hot off the grill and a heaping side of old-time ambience can satisfy their appetites for all three at Evergreen’s most enchanting pioneer artifact, the Humphrey Memorial Park & Museum.

If foul weather set the start of this year’s Buffalo Stampede back a couple of days, the more than 600 Bergen kids who ran their little hearts out on May 16 to benefit the Bergen Meadow Field Project finished way ahead of expectations.

“They raised more than $20,000,” says Lisa McLagan, vice president of fund-raising for the Bergen Parent Teacher Association. “It’s amazing. The most the Stampede’s ever raised is $9,000, and they doubled it.”

The Evergreen Fire Protection District board voted unanimously to spend $75,000 combined to spruce up aging fire stations No. 1 and No. 4. The decision came at a regular meeting of the board on May 28.

Fire Chief Garry DeJong recommended spending $35,000 on a cosmetic makeover for Station 4, about halfway between Marshdale station No. 3 and station No. 1 near downtown.

Station 4 serves as sleeping quarters for two paramedics while they are on 24-hour duty.

Jaine Hamilton, secretary of the board of directors of the Evergreen Fire Protection District, has decided to leave Evergreen and move to the Western Slope, where she has accepted a job as manager of a hardware store in Newcastle near Glenwood Springs.

Hamilton will maintain her position as a member of the board of directors in the short term but said she would have to resign her seat as soon as she gives up her residence in Evergreen, where she has lived for 25 years.